Discovering Eden
by Squeeka Cuomo
Summary: Torn from the familiarity of the woman’s face, Sylar’s cold eyes flickered to the gun she’d pulled from behind her back. Resting in her delicate hand, the gleaming silver made Eden McCain look like a porcelain doll gone horribly wrong.


**Discovering Eden**

Staring through the pitch black to the place where he knew his knees were, Sylar concentrated on safety doors click echoing through the room. Not bothering to react, the caged man waited for the fluorescent lights to be switched on, pondering what the man with horn-rimmed glasses could want now. But as the light bulbs finally flickered on and their drone filled his cell, Sylar looked up, mildly curious about what the indestructible cheerleader's father wanted now.

But the person standing on the other side of the glass was not who he'd been expecting. No, this person, this woman was someone he hadn't seen since he was Gabriel Gray. Pushing himself off of the metal slab, Sylar took a few steps towards the glass, studying the woman on the other side.

"I do know you, don't I?" Full of dawning realization, his voice held a trace of wonderment he'd possessed in his former life. It was a tone that he hadn't used in a very long time.

Torn from the familiarity of the woman's face, Sylar's cold eyes flickered to the gun she'd pulled from behind her back. Resting in her delicate hand, the gleaming silver made Eden McCain look like a porcelain doll gone horribly wrong.

"I lived next door to Chandra Suresh."

Though she tried to keep her voice devoid of emotion, Sylar could still hear the delicate timbre of hurt hanging on the edges of her syllables. That gentle sorrow caused the caged man to smile slightly as he realized what was really standing before him. "That wonderful ability."

He'd seen Eden before, but he'd never bothered to truly _look_ at her. If he had, Brian Davis may not have been his first kill, his first acquired ability. But as it was, she'd slipped through his fingers. Staring at the face he'd seen disappearing into the neighboring apartment on his visits to Dr. Suresh, he felt a bit of his old self return. For the first time in months, he felt like Gabriel Gray again.

Despite the gun that was now trained on his stomach, Gabriel's voice was full of wonderment as he pondered the possibility of the special residing in the most mundane of places. "The power of persuasion, and this whole time you were the girl next door."

Observing the petite woman through the heavy layer of glass, the watchmaker recalled his meetings with Suresh and the woman that always seemed to be just outside his door. Chastising himself for not recognizing Eden for what she was, he remembered locking eyes with her once or twice. Perhaps if he hadn't been so wrapped up in the intoxicating promise of his own gift, he would have found the power resting behind her huge brown eyes sooner.

Content to indulge the memories of himself as a watchmaker about to become so much more, the man waited to see how his companion would respond. The angry desperation that filled her soft voice ripped Sylar from his thoughts.

"I'm going to take this gun, and I'm gonna put it in that slot, and you're gonna take it, and you're gonna blow your brains out." Exhaled on a single rushed breath, the words sliced into Sylar's gut like a knife.

With the ability of persuasion coursing through her command, any other person would have done as they were told. They would have scooped up the heavy metal and pointed it obediently at their temple. The only thing that Eden's words caused Sylar to do was realize one more unbelievable truth about the woman before him. About Dr. Chandra Suresh's precious next door neighbor.

"You knew, didn't you?" Half-accusation, half-question, his words escaped as an angry growl. Though the man with horn-rimmed glasses seemed to be able to block his abilities, the caged man highly doubted that the 'girl next door' would be able too.

Reaching into the air with his left hand curled tightly into a fist, Sylar commanded the woman to come to him. Watching the delicate angles of her angelic face crash through the windows, he reached out, ready to catch her lithe body in his grasp. The shards of shattering glass sunk into her gentle flesh, staining the lily white skin crimson.

Eden would pay for what she'd allowed him to become.

Closing one massive hand around her throat, Sylar could feel the woman's blood pounding fiercely through her veins. "You knew what I was, and you let it continue." As the anger threatening to rip his heart into a million tiny pieces began to subside in response to the woman's fear, the watchmaker realized that he didn't care about the damnation of his soul after all. Years of nine am mass followed by Sunday school seemed to loose their power. And along with them, the ideas of sin and salvation. Perhaps he'd known all along, but at that moment, it had never been clearer.

"In a way you helped me." Pressing the pads of his fingers into the fleshy underside of the woman's jaw, Sylar fed off of the hopeless gasps reverberating through her throat. The small chuckle that escaped his own sent a wave of anticipatory excitement through his body.

Looking into the large brown eyes that were quickly filling with terror, he couldn't help but locate the faulty gear that gave her such a wonderful ability. An ability that, despite having missed it before, would very soon be his. "And after I consume your power, you'll help me even more."

Watching Eden fight for each tiny gasp that escaped her lungs, Sylar was surprised to see that the gun was still tight within her grasp and pointing at him. The fact that she seemed to think it would be any good against him was laughable. She could pull the trigger and send one of the bullets flying towards his skull, but in the end, it wouldn't matter. The speeding chunk of metal would be no match for the ability he'd taken from Brian Davis. The bullet would be no match for his telekinesis.

Staring down the gun's barrel, the man allowed the amusement he was feeling to seep into his voice. "Oh, Eden, you know that won't hurt me."

Waiting for her to pull the trigger, for the woman to put his power to the test, Sylar hadn't even thought of what else she might have had in mind. Wrapped up in his own excitement and anticipation, it took Gabriel Gray a moment to realize what was going on as Eden McCain, Dr. Suresh's next door neighbor, slowly turned the gun on herself. Watching the barrel go from his face to hers, Sylar felt every muscle in his body tense, freezing him in place.

For once, he was completely terrified.

Oh, he could care less about Eden. She was going to die either way. By her hand or his. But with the gun pointing at her temple, Sylar knew what she about to do. A bullet didn't care about broken gears or special abilities. All it cared about was destroying everything in its path.

The moment the shot rang out through his cell and the weight of her body collapsed into his hand, Sylar knew that her brain was gone and with it, the power of persuasion. All that was left of Eden McCain's wonderful ability was the bright red blood now seeping slowly down what remained of the glass barrier that was supposed to keep her safe.

Staring at her body in horror, Gabriel Gray remembered the few times their eyes had met in passing. She truly was his Eden, never once stopping him from tasting the forbidden fruit of his ability. And because of her, they were both damned.

**Squeeka Cuomo's Notes**

- The dialogue in this fic is taken from the episode "Fallout".

- Katie, I couldn't have asked for a better beta. I really wouldn't want to work with anyone else. Thank you. :duck:


End file.
